As expected, new ATP World Number One, four time reigning French Open Champ, current Wimbledon champ, Beijing Olympics gold medalist, great nemesis to He-Man: Master of the Universe, silent sixth member of 90’s boy band 2gether, friggin’ shoots conflict-free flawless diamonds out his ass and second most successful salesman at the Glengarry real estate offices (earning him a snazzy new set of steak knives)…
whew!…
Rafael Nadal grabs the number one seeding at the 2008 US Open tournament that will begin on Monday.
What’s realy interesting to me is how quickly the sports, tennis and general media have all so quickly forgotten that Swiss guy (who also won a gold medal at the Olympics this year by the way) who used to play pretty good tennis for just a few weeks prior to Nadal.
All jokes aside, this is Federer’s last real opportunity to salvage this year. A year that started out with mononucleosis and a semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic at the Aussie Open.
Federer could win his fifth straight US Open title this year. More importantly he’ll end off the grand slam year with one title, one away from tying Pete Sampras’ record and most importantly the knowledge that he hasn’t been shut out fully in 2008.
I still think that he needs more time to mourn the Wimbledon loss but because of the Olympics he really had no chance to catch himself to reassess how to handle the summer that’s passed him by.
But with the gold medal win last week at the Olympics’ doubles finals, I think it’s something that Federer needed desperately to regain some confidence. It’s also the best way to enter The Open next week with a win on the same hard court surface that will take up the next two weeks of his life.
On the other side there’s Nadal. The new “Federer”. This is without a doubt his best year on the tour. Has he hit his peak? I think that 2008 is his peak. Even if he was to have another year like 2008, I just don’t see him and his super aggressive style of play having the longevity that a more graceful game may have.
Ironically enough, the last top player with a similar style of play was Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. And where will Lleyton be during The Open? Getting his hip operated on. If Rafael can learn anything from the past it’s that Lleyton has played that super aggressive, over caffeinated, “COME ON!” yelling, super fist pumping, stomp rushing (the dude doesn’t run on court, he stomps), “my bark is mad loud yo” style that was effective at 21… but not so much at 25.
Rafael is stronger than the thin Hewitt but the unforgiving hard courts could care less. They treat those knees and joints just as harsh as anyone.
The official draws will be made public tomorrow. This will be the beginning of quite an interesting two weeks in New York.
August 21, 2008 at 4:56 pm
[...] cap [...]